The Lord's Day

I don't know about ya'll - but Sundays can be one of the most stressful days of the week around here. Sundays should be a day of rest and a day to go to God's House and worship Him but sometimes getting there can be a mess. We were racing this morning to get all 3 of us ready and things were going wrong all around. I managed to snap a couple of pics of Harper but didn't have time to really get good ones because we were late but I knew her outfit would be a mess by the time we got home (and it was). Right after I snapped these - she spit up all over her new outfit and I didn't have time to change her. FUN! (I got this little outfit and another one at Dillard's yesterday - they had some PRECIOUS outfits for about 70% off and I just couldn't resist). Anyway - we rush to church and we are super late and have to park way off and we drop Harper off in the nursery. I went to check on her between church and Sunday School and of course she was screaming. I got her settled down but after Sunday School when we went to get her she was mad as a hornet. She calmed down in the car so we tried to go out to eat but before they could even take our order she was screaming so loud the entire restaurant was staring at us. I was so embarrassed. So we left frazzled and came home to eat peanut butter for lunch. ha! And honestly - I've spent the good part of this afternoon wondering why we have the one child who acts so awful at church. All the other babies are so calm and content and I want so badly to be a good mom and to have a sweet child. And she IS. She is beautiful and precious and I am so blessed I can't stand it. But she just acts so awful out in public. I know the key is to just keep going and to keep trying and eventually she will understand that Church is a wonderful place to go and she will grow to love it.
(I should add that the nursery workers are WONDERFUL, loving people and it has nothing to do with them or anything in there - she just has separation anxiety. She's used to being with me 24/7 and I'm rarely ever away from her. I know she will grow out of it. She's pretty happy 90% of the time these days. She just wants her momma). (But that can be hard on a momma).

But in the midst of all my stress today - I managed to hear a sermon on obedience and a Sunday School lesson on doing God's will and I'm so glad because I'm struggling in those areas right now also. I'm going out of town tomorrow for two days and meeting my parents who are going to help me with Harper and I'm going to be speaking to two different groups and sharing our story. And I'm a nervous wreck. I DON'T speak. (In fact - I've turned down several requests to speak because I just CAN'T do it). But I agreed to this and I'm just sick about it. I know it must be something God wants me to do because I don't want to do it AT ALL! ha! So I'm praying He gives me the words to say. I know that what I have to say has nothing to do with me anyway but how God has worked in me and through me.

Have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone to do something that you knew God was calling you to do but that you felt you just couldn't do??? I've been there many times and God has always blessed me. I taught preschool Sunday School for several years and I was so nervous and felt so non equipped. But God blessed me so much through that. Do you struggle knowing God's will for you or for your life? I would love to hear your thoughts or stories!

Big Girl

What Harper ate for Dinner (plus milk)

And I think she would have ate more if I didn't think she might explode

We don't know WHERE she could possibly get this kind of appetite???

SURELY not from her parents! ha!

Show us Your Life - Wedding Showers

I'm really out of the wedding circles these days. I have only hosted two wedding showers in the last couple of years. I guess I'll have to wait until all my friend's kids start getting married to host anymore.
We had my friend Hillary's wedding shower at my house last year. Her colors were green and black. Her new last name started with a "B".

Yummy Food

How cute are these petit fours??? I got these for her lingerie shower the night before her wedding. I just think these are TOO cute!
We played a fun game and picked out names for each "nightie" she got and then wrote them all on pieces of paper so on her honeymoon - her husband could choose a "name" and then she would wear the corresponding gown. It was a lot of fun.
I had several really nice showers when I was engaged. This shower was thrown by Scott's home church. It was so nice and different. They had us come up on a Saturday and open all the gifts with just our family. And then the shower was the next afternoon and they laid out all the opened gifts on tables for everyone to look at and then I basically stood in the house and everyone came and spoke to me.
This isn't a very good picture but it was me and the two Judys (our moms) in front of the beautiful table.

This fruit table was amazing!!!

Here are people looking at a table that held our Christmas dishes and some other things.

My parent's church (that I grew up in) threw me a very nice shower also (you can tell we got married in the fall). This is me, my mom and my mam-ma.
This was the traditional kind where you sit in a circle and open gifts while everyone watches you - very chawing to me!

I'd love to see your showers and get ideas. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there planning showers soon for someone!

For Better Or For Worse

*** Show Us Your Life Wedding Shower Post will be up sometime in the morning*****

Harper and I have had a kind of out of sorts day. I can't put my finger on it but I've been kind of blue and she has been kind of grumpy. And don't get me started on the fact that I took a grumpy, fussy baby to Wal-Mart and after they had scanned all my items the computer broke and I had to stand there for 20 minutes while they tried to figure it out and ended up moving me to a different line to rescan all my items. AWWWWW....Patience is a Virtue.

Anyway - I put Harper in these new pajamas tonight that my Aunt Linda bought her and they were so cute I had to take her picture and I even had to try putting a little bow in her hair (gasp - not a HUGE bow - just a little one!) She was so precious and I was just thinking about all the things about motherhood that have been easier than I thought and all the things that have been harder and I thought I would make a little list.

THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN EASIER THAN I IMAGINED

• Childbirth itself (thanks to my best friend the epidural) (I would NOT say this if I had done it natural! ha!)
  
• Breastfeeding (I have always dreaded this and thought I would hate it)
  
• The lack of sleep (no she still doesn't sleep through the night - but I honestly don't mind and won't complain - I think I have just gotten used to it. It will work itself out when she is good and ready!)
• Changing diapers
• Just taking care of a baby in general - I was scared silly of that
• Going to Wal-Mart/Target/any store with a baby
• Adjusting to being at home - I was worried I might get bored. ha ha ha ha ha ha - oh that makes me laugh.
• Losing the baby weight
• Taking trips with her - flying or driving
• Dawson and Harper getting along - so far it's gone WAY better than I dreamed

THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN HARDER THAN I IMAGINED

• Protecting her from germs - I was never a germ-a-phobe until she was born and now I think about it constantly - it will only get worse this winter.
• The recovery from birthing a 10 pound baby - I didn't feel "normal" for about 3 months - that was tougher than the pregnancy or delivery and the thing I dread the most about #2 (her NICU stay had a lot to do with that - at least I hope that was it)
  
• Leaving her .....EVER. I thought I would be back to normal right away .....going to choir, doing this and that.........but I hate leaving her.
• Ever looking half way decent - I am always covered in spit up, drool, squash and I'm sweaty and a hot mess. But what's easier than I imagined - I really don't care about that!
• Making play dates. I figured I would hang out with Laurie all the time or other friends but most of the time - I just enjoy being at home with her by myself. This isn't hard - just different than I imagined.
• Not being able to serve like I have before. Serving is my spiritual gift and having a baby - I just can't serve as much as before and that has been strangely hard for me but it's okay. I tell myself every day that right now Harper is my mission field and I will serve her for this season in my life.
• Dressing Harper up cute and getting her to stay that way for more than 5 minutes before she starts spitting up or drooling on her outfit or tugging her bow off. I've learned to take her picture the minute I get her dressed or the cuteness is over. ha!
• Keeping a clean house and putting dinner on the table every night. I thought our house would just sparkle because I would clean all the time. Either I don't have the time or I'm too tired.
  

What about you? What has been different about motherhood than you expected? Easier or Harder?

Fake Laugher

Being a Planner and being a Mother don't always seem to go hand in hand. No matter how many lists I make or daily schedules I write out - nothing seems to go the way I think it should. And that's okay.

Take today for instance:

Today was a free day so we left this morning to go walking on a new trail. It was such a pretty morning so I packed my camera and put Harper in a cute outfit so when we finished walking I could take her first outdoor pictures. The walk was great - I got in some good exercise but towards the end - Harper had HAD it. And every time I tried to stop and get her to let me take her picture she would scream her head off. So no go on the outdoor pictures. Note to self: Next time take pictures BEFORE the walk.
Then I thought we would come home, eat lunch, let Harper take an early nap and then go visit our friend Melissa before another friend was stopping by to visit and then cook dinner. Well - yesterday Harper took two naps totaling 5 hours. Today she wouldn't nap to save her life. Not one minute.
So we just learn to go with the flow. Sometimes things fall in place like yesterday when she slept a lot and I got so much done and today we just spent more time playing with dolls in the floor. And I loved every second of it.

And this is one of the reasons why I cherish every moment:
Harper eating today - in the last few days she has started doing this "fake laugh" constantly and it cracks me up. You should have seen her when I showed her this video of herself - she was REALLY fake laughing at herself. ha!

Please Pray

I get SO many prayer requests every day and I have been trying to put them all on the Prayer Blog. Please understand that I'm weeks behind and working through as fast as I can. It seems sometimes I answer 30 e-mails one night and then get 40 more so it's like a hill I can't seem to climb.

Also understand that every request you send me is EQUALLY important. I put them all on the prayer blog and pray for each one. I have been sent 3 just today/yesterday and another that is a little older that I'm going to put right here. These are not more important than any others but these 4 families have been hit doubly hard and they are on my heart to have you pray for them.

It also gives a little perspective that you may think you have something rough going on - but maybe it's not so bad after all.

• Lindsey Huskey and her husband. Last year they lost a baby boy around 21-22 weeks. She is pregnant again with a little girl. They have been told the baby's brain is not developing and may live to term but won't live long after birth. I can't imagine how this couple must feel right now but they need your prayers.
• Dianne Whiteman - lost her 5 year old daughter 4 months ago to a heart condition and her husband has an MRI on Thursday to rule out a brain tumor. Please pray there is NO cancer.
• The Maxey family - they had a little girl 5 years ago who lived a little over a year and died from a brain tumor. They had another little girl in October and she now has a serious brain tumor also. They also have a little boy. I wept over their blog last night. Please pray for this young couple.
• The Ramer family - due to a terrible accident - they had boy and girl twins who both drowned at the end of July. Can you imagine losing your 2 year old children - two at once? They are due with a baby girl in December. Please pray comfort over them.

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Romans 5:3-5

I love Mommy

First - thank you for all the suggestions on dining choices in the Redneck Rivera! :-) Now - how to narrow it down to just a few places? We will have fun picking!

At this age - things seem to change and develop on a daily basis. Harper sat up and enjoyed reading books and holding them on her own today for the first time. I hope she will always love reading. I am not much of a reader these days but only for lack of time. I grew up in love with the library. I can't wait to read the Little House on the Prairie series to her and Nancy Drew and Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. What were your favorite childhood books?
Another big thing happened last night - Harper has had an issue with tongue thrust when she eats. More food comes out than goes in and I've been very worried about it. I had planned to wait a few more weeks and then think about consulting a doctor or therapist but all of the sudden last night - she just started eating correctly! She ate three jars of food and just finally got it right! I was cheering and clapping and shouting! It was just such a relief to see it worked itself out over night!!! And luckily today - she has had no problem either! Now maybe soon we can try to eat "puffs!" I have been waiting to be able to give her a little snack!
I love this outfit - can you tell why? It says "I love mommy". (Thank you Donna!) I love this girl so much. I tell her every night when she goes to bed that no one will ever love her more than her momma (except maybe her daddy) and I will always love her and be her best friend. Now I plan to be more of a mom than a friend to her as she grows up but I hope as she becomes an adult she will consider me her friend. I know there will be years to come where she may not like me too much. When I won't let her wear "that outfit" or go to "that party" or let her do something just because "everyone else is doing it". I just want her to know that no one will ever love her more or do more to help her have the best life than me. There are so many things I want to do with her - shop for clothes, get pedicures, go on mother/daughter trips, teach her to cook........I can't wait for every second of her little life!

But right now - I'm just loving the little things in life like holding books and eating properly!

Daddy's Girl

Today I met my friend Denise for lunch at Table Mesa in our town. If you live in NWA - you must eat here! SOOOOOOO good. I've wanted to go forever and I'm sad it's taken me this long. The guacamole was the best ever! I will be going a lot now. Denise and I worked together 7-8 years ago and have stayed friends. She had her miracle granddaugther with her today. Jadyn was born at 28 weeks almost a year ago and stayed almost 3 months in the NICU and now she is perfect. What a blessing to see her and Harper happy and eating out today!
While we were in Magnolia this weekend - I got out Scott's old baby pictures to see if Harper really is her daddy's daughter. I did a few side by side comparisons. You are all so sweet when you say she looks like me - but she is the spitting image of her daddy. Here they are in the same high chair. :-)

Scott on his first birthday and Harper at 7 months. I think the only difference is she has my round face and maybe my olive skin.

And doing their mouths the same! ha! I'm pretty sure Scott could not be more thrilled than to have a little girl that looks just like him! ha! She is such a mess. Apparently traveling makes her hungry because last night when I fed her before bed she ate two big jars of baby food and a thing of yogurt and nursed and was begging for more. I was afraid she would explode. ha!

This is our last quiet week before things get busy so we are trying to enjoy it. I'm so glad to have a few days of being at home this week. Next week things will start to get busy because I will be doing a women's Bible Study each week, we are going to join a MOPS group (Mothers of preschoolers) with some of our friends and we will have play group. I'm so excited about all the things we will be involved in but we will be two busy (but happy) girls!!!

And I'm trying to plan our trip to the beach in a few weeks and I need your help. I know SO many of you vacation in Gulf Shores/Orange Beach. If you have recently - what is your favorite restaurant??? Our favorite thing to do is eat out each night and we want to go to really good places - so leave me a comment and tell me where to eat (ya'll know how much I like food! And the friends and family we will be with are the same way!)

Happy Monday!

Everything tastes better FRIED!

This weekend, Scott, Harper and I headed down to South Arkansas to visit Scott's family. We left a little early on Friday so we got to Russelleville just in time for dinner which I was excited about because I wanted to eat at Whatta-burger. (Not the chain - this is an old family restaurant right across from Arkansas Tech University). We ate there last time we went to Magnolia with Laurie and Steve.

But what I found out on this trip is that they have FRIED PIES!!!! These ladies in my parents church used to make the best fried chocolate pies when we would have church potlucks and this preacher's daughter would knock everyone down to get first in line to get one. I saved the pie for when we got back in the car and I wish I had known how good it was going to be or I would have bought more. OH MY it was good!!!!

We got to Magnolia Friday night just in time for homemade ice cream - does the eating ever stop? Saturday morning we got up and got ready and after Harper took a morning nap - Scott's mom and I headed to the town square to shop while Scott and his dad worked at the deer camp. This cute children's store (Sara's) was having a 50% off sale and Judy bought Harper these two PRECIOUS outfits for when she gets to be 3 or 4! I can't imagine what she will be like at that age!
We had her down for an afternoon nap and I peeked and this is what I saw! Can you see that little head peeking over the edge of the crib? She was in no mood for a nap!
Saturday night we went out to eat one of my other very favorite foods - FRIED FISH! Only since Harper is allergic I couldn't eat it. Sad. But I did get to eat some hushpuppies! I could eat my weight in hushpuppies (which at this point would be a LOT!)

Harper and her grandparents before dinner

Oh - that little girl!

Can you tell she is a little doted on?

The catfish place is out of town at a lake - it's really pretty!

We came home and got her ready for bed. Harper was enjoying having the attention of all 4 of us! She was wound up before bed time.

I love this sweet picture of her cuddling with her grandpa! She is just the sweetest thing!

Scott's mom is the best gardener. She definitely has a green thumb. I feel bad because Scott married a black thumb. I have no interest or talent with plants. Scott took their picture this morning in front of these huge flowers she has grown (she would have to tell you the name but they only open at night and briefly in the morning).

We had a great weekend with his family as always and Harper was SUCH a good little traveler both ways. I'm so glad because it makes us want to go more places with her. And P.S. we stopped on the way home in Russelleville just so I could get some more fried pies and I won't tell you how many I bought but I'm going to have to go on a serious diet starting tomorrow! :-)

Friday Misc

So - a bunch of random stuff today before the weekend hits!!!

Harper and I met with a pediatric surgeon today about removing her little extra toe. She also has little skin tags on her hands that would have been extra fingers. In about three weeks - she will have surgery to have all three removed. I am nervous because she will have to be put under but I know she will be fine. And it's just a little toe. I think of all the other mothers who have babies who have to have major heart surgery or undergo chemotherapy. So I was hoping that on Sept 17th - the day of her surgery - we could make that a special day of prayer for all children undergoing any kind of medical procedures. I just want to let that day remind me to pray for all the parents who are losing sleep over their children's health. Let's pray for peace, comfort and healing. Will you do that with me???

Waiting in the doctor's office can get long and boring when you have a squirmy baby. I took our picture with my phone to send to Scott. ha!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

356 783 263 65 38 

Timestamp: 2009-08-21 17:11:34 UTC

Here are the winners of the Selah CD!!!! If each of you below will e-mail me (contact info is on my right sidebar) - I will get you your CD! I wish I could give a CD to all 800 of you! Winners are :

www.momtolandon.blogspot.com

www.sometimeshewhispers.blogspot.com

www.meganmacymadisonsmom.blogspot.com

Cindy D. @ 4:34 on 8/17

www.haffordfamily5.blogspot.com

• Shaun Groves wrote a post today talking about a couple of us going on the compassion trip in November. I was pretty tickled that one of the reasons he was intrigued with my blog was because of all of you!! So I thought I would share. I'm so glad that my blog is not like one of those boring College classes where the professor lectures and the students take notes. I'm glad it's more of a "discussion" class with lots of "participation"! That's what makes it so fun! So keep participating!!!! i love hearing from all of you!!!
• If you live in NWA and haven't heard - I thought I would let you know (or remind you) that the HUGE consignment event, Rhea Lana, is coming up Sept 2-5. I think there is still time to enter your own items and then you will HAVE to go back and shop. I've heard you can find awesome stuff. I have missed it the last two times but if you have a baby or are expecting a baby or know anyone with a baby - GREAT way to get a lot of stuff for great prices!!!! And it's a great way to make extra money if you have some good children's clothes or toys or equipment that you would like to sell! Check out the website for more information!

Show Us Your Life - Baby Showers

For all of you in the stage of life that I am - today is a great day for you! We are going to be sharing Baby Shower Ideas. If you are like me - I throw/attend a lot of baby showers a year these days. I thought I would just show pictures from a few that I could find that we have done in the recent past.


The first two pictures are a shower at my house for my best friend Laurie when she had her first daughter Emily. A tradition in our Sunday School class is to throw a big shower for the first baby and then meet at a restaurant for #2, #3, and on and just give gifts. I think that's a great way to do it.
I threw this shower for a friend I worked with. My office came over and we had finger foods!
We had a "Sweet Things" shower for my friend whose last name is "Sweet". It was all desserts!
I made this diaper cake for that shower. It was my first attempt - not the greatest but kind of cute!
This was a sports themed shower for a little boy - I LOVE the petit fours we had for this shower. (These came from a bakery - WISH I was this talented)
The table for the sports theme - we used balls and pom poms to decorate and served "sports" foods!
This was another shower we had for a little boy. I think we did dips and sweets for this one!
This was at my church shower. My sweet friends threw the nicest shower for me and Harper
A girl in our class makes AMAZING cookies and she now has a full time career making cookies for everyone's parties.

They also had petit fours with what else? Harper's monogram

The same girl made these cookies recently for another shower

I've been to several more recently but these were ones I thought I would share. I'm anxious to see all of your ideas because we have a ton of showers coming up in my circle of friends!

P.S. I don't know if Petit Fours are a "southern" thing or not - but some of you asked. They are just "little cakes". They are a mouthful of goodness! ha! Literally - it's just a bite sized cake. I love them because you don't have to deal with cutting a big cake and one or two petit fours are "just right" for most people. Plus you can decorate them in the cutest ways!

BE SURE AND CHECK HERE TO KEEP UP WITH OUR SCHEDULE FOR UPCOMING FRIDAYS!